Improvement in telegraph-manipulators



UNITED STATES PATENT Ormea..

EDWARD It. ROE, OF SHAWNEETOWN, ILLINOIS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 5,612, dated May 30, 1848.

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known'that I, EDWARD R. ROE, of

Shawneetown, in the county of Gallatin and l State of Illinois, have invented a new Machine for Operating, Working, or Manipulating a Morses Electro-Magnetic Telegraph and other telegraphs of a similar character; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof.

The schedule and accompanying drawings referred to in this specication being apart of the same, I do hereby declare that- Figure I is a perspective view of the manipulator. Fig. II is a side view of the part called traverser.7 Fig. III isa side elevation of some specimens of the types. Fig. lVis a view ofthe wand detached from the socket. Fig. V is a perpendicular section, seen endwise.

The description of Morses American telegraph referred to in this specification may be found on iile in the Patent Oiiice, Reissue No. 7 9.

My invention consists of, iirst, movable metallic types as conductors of electricity or galvanism 5 second, a metallic type-bed upon which they are to rest, (which is also movable to and fro, somewhat in the manner of a common printing-press,) and, third, a movable wand, which is also a conductor, and is made to traverse thepface of the types, thereby making, continuing, or breaking the rgalvanic circuit, according to the forms of the types.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe it construction and operation.

I construct a frame of wood or other suitable material, (see accompanying drawing, A,) in any form which will furnish support and connection to the parts of the machine about to be described. In this frame plays the type-bed B, consisting of a at metallic floor surrounded by perpendicular edges E E, sufciently high to support the types in an upright position or to keep the form in place when the types are locked up in a chase and placed on the typebed. Upon the sides of thetype-bed are tongues which move in grooves F F in the supportingframe. The whole, when in operation ,is moved to and fro by a crank, G, and roller H, attached to it by straps, in the manner of a common printing-press. A large machine I would make still more similar to a printing-press by having the bed B move on railways instead of tongues working in grooves.

The types which I use consist of iiat pieces f of metal of equal height and thickness, to be more particularly described below, c b e d ef.

'They are set upon the type-bed in a series of long lines running lengthwise of the same and i separated by leads in the manner common to ordinary printing-types, and they are to be se- .cured there in the same manner as ordinary types are, by wedges and quoins. The arrange# ment of the types when on the bed is such, however, that they succeed each otherf1rst from left to right, and next from right to left, in alternate lines, the object of which will be shown hereinafter.

Projecting upward from the middle, one onv in form corresponding with the bar J, which' passes through it, and upon which itplays.

`From this body, and being a portion of the sam`e,projects downward a tube or socket, Fig.

II, h, in 'which plays the wand, Fig. IV. The f wand, (Fig. IV,) is made of glass, ivory, or any l imperfect conductor, and is-made to slide easily within the socket h. Its uppe.` portion within the socket is smaller than its lower one, and is surrounded by a spiral spring, j, of elastic wire, which tends to force the wand from the socket.

In the side of the tube h is a narrow slit, o, Fig. II, in which plays a small pin, 7c, projecting from the wand within, and adjusting the distance to which it is expelled from the socket by the spring within.

rEhe lower end of the wand requires a pan ticular description. It projects some distance without the socket. It is reduced one way to the thickness of the types over which it is to pass, and is faced the other way to two inclined planes, meeting each other at an obtuse angle. Immediately at the angle where the planes meet a metallic conductor, m, is inserted, (Fig. IV, l 1,) which conductor is connected by a# pliable metallic wire, p, Fig. I, to the socket or body of the traverser.

0n the side of the machine opposite the crank G, Fig. 1, is the traverse-wheel I, Fig. I, whose motion is at right angles to that of the type-bed. The traverse-wheel has on one of its sides, turnedfrom the same piece-of wood, (or other material,) a small wheel or pulley, J, Fig. I, in the groove of which plays a cord attached to the traverser.

Projecting from the circumference of the traverse-wheel are teeth or cogs, which give periodical motion to the wheel by coming in contact with the brakes K K. These brakes are attached, one to each end of the type-bed, by adjusting-screws, and they consist of a perpendicular and an inclined portion, the inclination bearing such relation to the teeth on the traverse-wheel that when the brake is made to pass under the tooth by the motion of the type-bed, the tooth is yelevated and the wheel is made to revolve a short distance, carrying with it, of course, the pulley upon its side. Both brakes strike the same tooth successively, which permits the distance between the teeth to be doubly as great as otherwise, and thus enables the brakesto detach themselves. y

The cord or band which passes over the pulley J is an endless band. It is attached to the traverser, passes over the pulley J, down under the frame of the machine, up and through the upright piece I, and over a small pulley at every angle in its course, (1, 2, 3,) and thence to the place of beginning at the traverser.

Finally, one of the grooves in which the tongues of the type-bed workis faced with copper or other conductor, and the metallic iioor of the type-bed is made to slide in constant contact with such conductor. Now, it is evident that if the wires of an electro-magnetic telegraph be separated, and one of the ends attached to the metallic face of the groove in which the type-bed moves and the other end to the metallic bar J on which the traverser plays, at the same time letting the wandpress upon the surface of the type on the bed, the machine becomes a part of the galvanie circuit.

Instead of attaching the conducting-Wire from the battery to the metallic facing in the groove it may be fastened to the iron chase which surrounds the types, and the wire itself coiled into a helix to give it pliability and freedom of motion.

' For operating Morses telegraph the faces of my types correspond exactly with his symbolic alphabet of dots and lines, and between the types and on' their faces are depressions which correspond to the blanks or spaces peculiar to such alphabet. It is evident, there fore, that if a line of types is made to pass under the wand the circuit will be made, con tinued, and broken in times proportionate to the faces and depressions on the types, and Morses register, if in connection with the malchine, must operate in precisely the same times.

The noniconducti-ng inclined planes at the leftto right and from right to left.

end ofthe wand are intended to enable the conductorbetween them to glide smoothly over the types.

My machine, taken as a whole, I call the tele graph-manipulator.7

To use my manipulator I compose from the case (of ordinary form) with my telegraph-types all of the matter which the business of the telegraph-office makes it convenient to dispatch at once,be it one or many dispatches, and limited only by the capacity of the typebed. The types are set up in lines, the types of which succeed each other alternately from They are locked up in a chase and placed upon the type-bed, and a proof taken therefrom by soft paper being pressed upon the form, or in any of the ordinary modes common to other types. The proof is corrected and the manipulator putin connection with the battery. The typebed is then moved rapidly under the wand, from right to left, by a hand upon thel crank. When the last type of the irst line has passed, the lbrake K strikes a pin on the traverse wheel I and turns it a certain distance. The pulley on its side draws the band which is attached to the traverser, and it slides on the bar J a distance equal to one type in thickness. The motion is then reversed and the next line of types passes under the wand, and the other brake turns the wheel and moves the traverser, as before. This motion is continued until all of the types have passed under the wand. The motion may be very rapid; but the rapidity of motion which may be'possible, while it still does accurate work, must be determined by experience, and the rapidity with which the paper moves under the pen 7 of the register may then be regulated accordingly. But as Morses alphabet does not depend upon actual time, but only proportionate, any want of harmony between the speed of the manipull'ator and that of the paper will only affect the size of the characters and not their forms.

I operate telegraphs working in actual timeV by regulating the motion of the manipulator by clock-work, and dividing the types into proportional lengths on the surface, according to the time required. I do not claim to have invented a new telegraph, but a manipulator or machine for operating telegraphs now in use and other similar ones; and I do not claim to be the first who has used metal types for the purpose of making and breaking the connection of the galvanic circuit, that having been done by Samuel F. B. Morse, as set forth in his specification on file in the Patent Oice, dated December 27, 1845, (see Reissue No. 7 9;) nor do I claim the use of metallic types as conductors, forming part of the galvanic circuit, that being an old device heretofore known.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination of the body g, the socket h, the spiral spring j, and the wand (Fig. IV)

with its conducting-point and its non-conducting inclined planes, the whole constituting the traverser.

2. The manner of giving the proper motion to the traverser by the combination and action of the traverse-Wheel I, the pulley J, and the cord which plays in it, the teeth upon the traverse-wheel, and the brakes K K, operated by the type-bed B, in the manner described, and for the purpose described.

3. The combination,for telegraphic purposes, of thetypes,arrangedin the mannerdescribed, with the traverser and its wand and its conducting-point, guarded by nou-conducting inclined planes.

E. R. ROE. Witnesses:

SAMUEL SgrREETER, GEO. C. THOMAS. 

